Sárospataki Füzetek 13. (2009)

2009 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - I. John Hesselink: Kálvin a jelen és az eljövendő élethez való helyes viszonyulásról

Erik Alexander de Boer

The Gifts of Prophecy, Tongues and Interpretation - Preaching and Preparation in the Company of Pastors of Geneva1

O

ne of the fascinating fields of study of the Reformation is the office of preaching the Word of God in church. The (to my knowledge) very last article, published posthumously, from the hand of dr. Barnabás Nagy has the following title: ‘Pfarrerausbildung und Pfarrernachwuchs in Ungarn im 16. Jahrhundert’.2 It was written as a lecture for the Cambridge Colloquy of 24-28 September 1968. When the Hungarian authorities denied a permit to travel to Cambridge, the paper was read in his absence. ‘Education of the First and Further Generations of Ministers in Hungary in the 16th Century’: the theme of preaching as important aspect of the ministry is an interest which I share with this scholar.

Focus of my present studies is: the body of ministers to the Word, the so- called Company of Pastors in Geneva, and its proceedings called the weekly congrégations. That is a field of research, not covered by Nagy’s last article, but awaiting further research: how did the ministers of the .Reformed Churches in Hungary study the Scriptures together? In order to stimulate such further investigations, I present an aspect of my research: the relation between preaching and prophecy. In other words: the relation between the task of preaching and the gifts of the Spirit according to the New Testament.

My next book will be dedicated to the institution, contents, and influence of the congrégations (the Bible study meetings of ministers). Therefore I would like to know if there ever was a comparable form of joint studies of the Scriptures at some place in Hungary. The Hungarians who studied in Wittenberg, formed a ‘coetus’ - the Latin word used in Geneva for the Company of Pastors! During a number of years (1545-1552) the pastors of Geneva held,

1 2009. október 21-én és 22-én a Sárospataki Református Teológiai Akadémia az Osterhaven tanulmányi napok sorozatában megrendezett nemzetközi Kálvin- konferencián és Nagy Barna-emlékülésen elhangzott eló'adás szerkesztett változata.

2 Bárnabas Nagy, ‘Pfarrerausbildung und Pfarrernachwuchs in Ungarn im 16. Jahrhundert’, Miscellanea Historicae Ecclesiasticae 3 (1970). Colloque de Cambridge, 24-28 September 1968, ed. De rek Baker [Revue d’Histoire ecclésiastique], 238-273.

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